'Sloppy': Micah Richards shares the weakness he's spotted at Chelsea in the last couple of games
Chelsea go into this weekend’s match away to Crystal Palace with a few question marks against them for the first time this season.
Enzo Maresca has been widely applauded for his start to life as the Chelsea manager, winning 18 of his opening 29 matches in charge across all competitions.
The Italian head coach inherited a talented Blues squad back in the summer, but he’s knitted things together much quicker than anyone really expected.
Interestingly, Chelsea are now in their first real mini blip of the season after some poor results over the festive period. The Blues were held to a draw away to Everton, followed by back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Ipswich Town.
Chelsea’s predicted XI versus Crystal Palace includes five changes from the Ipswich loss as they desperately try to get back on track.
Micah Richards gives verdict on Chelsea
Micah Richards thinks that overall it’s been an excellent season so far for Chelsea, surpassing everyone’s expectation of them.
However, he’s noticed that the Blues are starting to let in some “sloppy” goals recently as their defensive vulnerabilities start to shine through.
When discussing Chelsea’s season so far on The Rest Is Football, Richards said: “Maresca’s took them on to a new level. I think Maresca has talked about defensively is why he thought they couldn’t challenge for the title and the last couple of games they’ve conceded a few sloppy goals. But I think Chelsea have been brilliant, better than we all could have expected.”
Enzo Maresca was right on Chelsea’s defence
Like Richards mentioned above, Chelsea boss Maresca had his doubts about his side’s defence earlier in the season.
Speaking back in mid-December after the Blues’ 2-1 win over Brentford, he highlighted his defence as the reason why his side won’t compete for the division title this season.
Maresca said via The Express and Star: “No matter how many games we are going to win, I think we’re not ready to compete for the title. One of the reasons is I think the team that knows how to compete to win titles will not concede a goal like we concede.”
In fairness, Chelsea’s poor form in recent weeks has resulted in them sliding from a potential title challenge to a top-four battle. It’s defensive errors that’s played a part in that, too. For example, Axel Disasi was “sloppy” against Ipswich as his mistake cost the team a goal in the defeat.
The recent decline at the back hasn’t been helped by the recent injury absence of centre-half Wesley Fofana. Therefore, it’s dreadful news that Chelsea defender Fofana could miss the rest of the season.
The Blues go into this weekend sitting fourth in the league table, but fifth-placed Newcastle United are only three points behind them.
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